Dead birds and broken TV sets: How to host the perfect New Year party

Sub-zero swim – Every year around a 1000 New Year revellers brave freezing conditions in the River Forth in front of the Forth Rail Bridge during the annual Loony Dook Swim.

Similar sub-zero New Year soaks are found across the chillier corners of the northern hemisphere from Sweden to Siberia.

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Unusual New Year party traditions7 photos

Good luck grapes – A crowd of people gathered in Puerta del Sol in Madrid stuff their faces with 12 grapes to celebrate the New Year, each representing a month in the year ahead. Similar grape-related larks are practiced in Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica

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Unlucky pigs – In the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, the first day of January is celebrated with a piglet race in which 10 tiny porkers sprint through the snow for the enviable prize of being spared from the sausage factory.

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A spoonful of lead – Perhaps in tribute to their nation's industrial might, some Germans celebrate New Year with a drop of molten lead. A spoonful is melted over a candle and dropped into a bucket of water. Shapes formed by the droplets are used to divine signs of fortune to come.

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Party pants – Revelers take part in the 30-year-old 'San Silvestre' New Year's race in brightly colored underwear at La Font de la Figuera, Valencia, Spain. In Italy, Spain and South and Central America, color-coded underpants take on special meaning at New Year with red or yellow auguring luck or romance.

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Flying fridges – In South Africa, police have had to issue regular warnings following the development of a somewhat hazardous tradition of throwing fridges out of household windows during the New Year's holiday.

A similar practice of chucking unwanted goods out windows, including old TV sets, was common in Italy but is now, gratefully, extinct.

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Seasonal sleep – Not everyone is prone to raucous outbursts of New Year cheer. In a surprising survey last year, it was revealed that over a third of Britons prefer to be tucked up in bed on the stroke of midnight.

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Story highlights

Bizarre New Year traditions include swimming in subzero seas

Many Germans celebrate by watching a television repeat of a 50-year-old British comedy

Other activities include chomping grapes, racing pigs and hurling objects out of windows

The champagne is on ice, the fireworks are exploding overhead and the guests are getting down to some funky sounds -- but isn't your New Year's Eve party a bit, well, last year?

Not everyone spends the last night of December carousing like the dawn will bring a Mayan apocalypse, yet they still manage to have a great evening.

So perhaps to see in 2013, it's time to pour away the Moët & Chandon, defuse the skyrockets, eject the ABBA mixtape and take inspiration from some of the planet's more unusual New Year celebrations by adding these to your shopping list:

Most parties lay on a few ice cubes for the cocktails, but if you really want your guests to chill, how about a frozen lake, river or sea. For some reason, glaciated bodies of water have a magnetic lure for new year revelers undeterred by hypothermia, frostbite or common sense. Sub-zero soaks are commonplace from Scotland to Siberia as swimmers, often fortified by a shot of booze, shiver themselves bluer than the cast of Avatar.

New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 2013 10 photos

New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

Hong Kong – Firework's light up Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour. This year will see the city's midnight fireworks display journey across town for the first time, beginning out at the sea and moving along Victoria Harbour to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

New York – More than one million people will head to Times Square for New York's legendary fun-filled celebrations on December 31. This year's live entertainment will come from the likes of Taylor Swift, Psy and the Neon Trees.

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

Sydney – Sydney Harbour is world-renowned for its spectacular New Year's firework show, but event organizers say this year's event will be even better thanks to the top-secret pyrotechnic effects they have in store.

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

London – London intends to see out a 2012 -- a year in which the city hosted the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee -- in style. There will be a spectacular fireworks display along the banks of the river Thames.

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

Berlin – Berlin is renowned for hosting one of the world's largest open-air New Year celebrations. DJ's entertain music fans along the "Party Mile": a two kilometer strip of dancefloors, stages and bars behind the Brandenburg Gate.

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

Edinburgh – Edinburgh's annual New Year's Eve (Hogmanay) festivities are cast aglow with a torchlight procession involving more than 25,000 locals. The parade is led by Shetland's Up Helly Aa vikings (pictured).

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

Samoa – Samoans welcome the new year with songs, prayer services and village banquents, all of which begin and end with a traditional kava ceremony.

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

Kyoto – A maiko (apprentice geisha) rings a bell at a temple in Kyoto. As the clock ticks toward 2013, temples across the city will ring large bronze bells 108 times, a Buddhist tradition said to rid humans of earthly desires.

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Taipei – The Taiwanese capital thinks big when it comes to New Year's Eve, transforming the 509-meter-high Taipei 101 tower into a frenzy of colorful fireworks.

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New Year cheer: 10 ways to ring in 201310 photos

Dubai – The Palm resort in Dubai will play host to the popular Sandance festival. This year's headline acts, Ellie Goulding, Rita Ora, Roger Sanchez and Paul Van Dyk, will entertain revelers into the early hours of 2013.

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Santa HQ – If meeting Santa is on your Christmas to-do-list then a trip to Rovaniemi in Finland is a must. The village in Lapland, located just north of the Arctic Circle, has become known as the Christmas HQ -- where kids and adults can make gingerbread cookies with Mrs. Claus or enroll in Elf School.

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Dasher, Dancer, Prancer...and Rudolph – Other attractions in the very north of Finland include the Ranua Zoo, home to baby polar bears, wolverines, and moose and the Sirmakko reindeer farm, where visitors can take a sled-led reindeer safari.

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Ice, ice baby – Across the border over in north Sweden is the now-infamous Ice Hotel -- where visitors sleep on a bed made from blocks of frozen ice.

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Strolling in Strasbourg – Every year Strasbourg creates a series of themed Christmas villages. With plenty of mulled Alsatian wines, fine food and book markets the city is turned into a visual and gastronomic wonderland.

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Quebec: Christmas with an eco twist – A haven for environmentally friendly, outdoor enthusiasts, Quebec is a city that bustles with activity. If you're the type of person who likes to celebrate Christmas around a tree made from recycled sheet metal, with lights powered by the pedaling of nearby cyclists, then Quebec is your destination.

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Old-world charm in the New World – Quebec's French Quarters offer modern-day Victorians candle-lit evening of stories from Charles Dickens, detailing the Christmas traditions of yore.

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Piñatas, ponche and pilgrimages – In the colorful Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende, Christmas is both a solemn and a celebratory affair. The locals make pilgrimages from home to home begging for shelter as they re-enact the journey to Bethlehem. But there is also plenty of party, ponche - a mulled fruit drink - and piñatas.

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Brooklyn sights – The Dyker Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York is famous for its ostentatious Christmas decorations and light displays. Neighbors try and out-do each other with holiday decorations.

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Ethiopia's monolithic churches – Dating as far back as the 12th century and carved out of striking red-color blocks of volcanic rock these churches, situated roughly 200 miles north of Addis Ababa, are a sacred place of pilgrimage for those wanting to celebrate the Coptic Christmas on January 7.

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Meeting kings in Barcelona – If you can manage to extend your Christmas holiday until Three King's Day on January 6, there is no better place to catch up with Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar than Barcelona where parades, floats and fireworks light up the town for huge post-December 25 street party.

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Never ending Christmas – Known as the country with "the longest Christmas season in the world," Filipinos get the Christmas festivities rolling in September, and extend them well through January. The country's cities and islands are festooned with nativities, lantern parades, and Christmas bazaars.

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Christmas down under – Sun-lovers who would prefer to meet santa in swimwear rather than thermals should head down to Queenstown. The New Zealand summer means you can enjoy all the adventures that the South Island has to offer without getting a frostbite or simply enjoy a hearty Christmas meal of lamb, seafood, and chicken on the barbie.

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Photos: Santa sightings around the world 62 photos

Photos: Santa sightings around the world62 photos

Santa sightings around the world – The cold water of Barcelona's Port Vell doesn't deter this swimmer dressed up as St. Nick from joining in the Copa Nadal swimming race, a traditional holiday event in the Spanish seaport, on Tuesday, December 25.

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Santa sightings around the world – A car wash worker in Santa gear washes a vehicle in Amritsar, India, on December 25.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man decked out as Santa Claus slips through the back streets of Hamburg, Germany, on Monday, December 24. Related photos: Magnum Santas

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Santa sightings around the world – A Steelers fan in a Santa outfit waves his Terrible Towel during the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, December 23, in Pittsburgh.

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Santa sightings around the world – Members of a local yoga club perform at a public park wearing Santa Claus costumes in Hanoi, Vietnam, on December 23.

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Santa sightings around the world – Indian sand artist Sudersan Pattnaik works on a sand sculpture with more than 500 Santa Claus statues on the beach in Puri, India, on Saturday, December 22.

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Santa sightings around the world – Michael Pless, 62, catches a wave off Seal Beach, south of Los Angeles, on Friday, December 21, in California. Pless, who also runs a surfing school, has been dressing up as Santa Claus and taking to the waves in costume since the 1990s, sometimes joined by his wife, Jill, in a Mrs. Claus outfit.

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Santa sightings around the world – A militarized police helicopter leaves a Santa Claus atop a school in a shantytown, or favela, of Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, December 20. This St. Nick, dressed in the white and blue colors of Peace Police Units, handed out toys among the children in the Brazilian slum.

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Photos: Santa sightings around the world62 photos

Santa sightings around the world – Two Japanese Santas clean the windows of a Tokyo hotel on December 20.

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Photos: Santa sightings around the world62 photos

Santa sightings around the world – Santa auditions an alternative species to pull his sleigh at the Marineland park in Antibes, France, on Wednesday, December 19.

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Photos: Santa sightings around the world62 photos

Santa sightings around the world – Stuttgart fans don Santa hats during a German Cup match between VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Köln on December 19 in Stuttgart, Germany.

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Photos: Santa sightings around the world62 photos

Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed in a Santa Claus costume poses with a sea lion at the animal exhibition park Marineland, in France, on December 19.

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Photos: Santa sightings around the world62 photos

Santa sightings around the world – Santa Claus walks out of the front door during a Christmas party hosted for sick children at 10 Downing Street on Monday, December 17, in London.

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Santa sightings around the world – Santa Claus opens his coat to reveal a Matt Schaub jersey at Reliant Stadium on Sunday, December 16, in Houston, Texas, before the Texas Longhorns played the Indianapolis Colts.

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Santa sightings around the world – Participants wear Santa costumes as they take part in a Santa Claus-themed race in downtown Milan, Italy, on December 16.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed up as Santa Claus appears at a demonstration in Paris for the legalization of same-sex marriage on December 16.

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Santa sightings around the world – A fan stands out in his Santa Claus attire during an NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos on December 16 in Baltimore. Denver won 34-17.

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Santa sightings around the world – A girl points out toys to Santa Claus on Saturday, December 15, in a store in Lille, France.

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Santa sightings around the world – Costumed Santas crowd into a telephone booth during the Santacon pub crawl near London's Trafalgar Square on December 15.

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Santa sightings around the world – Revelers in Santa costumes sit on the lion statue at the base of Nelson's Column in London's Trafalgar Square on December 15.

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Santa sightings around the world – A member of a French anti-fur group wades into the sea during a beach protest to denounce the practice of wearing fur on December 15 in Nice, France.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed as Santa Claus sees a patient in the pediatric ward of a hospital in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Friday, December 14.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man decked out as Santa walks down Geary Street on December 14 in San Francisco.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man wearing a Santa Claus costume performs in downtown Rome on Thursday, December 13.

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Santa sightings around the world – Police check a man dressed as Santa Claus as he passes through a metal detector at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, December 12, in Washington.

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Santa sightings around the world – Catholics United hold a press conference with Santa Claus in front of the U.S. Capitol to rebut the GOP's budget effort in the ongoing fiscal cliff argument on December 12 in Washington.

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Santa sightings around the world – Icelandic philantropist Einar Sveinsson, dressed as Santa Claus, speaks with a patient in the oncology ward during a visit to the Benjamin Bloom National Children's Hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Tuesday, December 11.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed as Ded Moroz, the Russian Santa Claus, entertains children at the Ded Moroz residence in Kuzminsky Park in Moscow on Tuesday, December 11.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed as Santa waits for customers in a wooden house in Rome on December 11.

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Santa sightings around the world – A diver dressed as Santa Claus poses for a photograph with children during a promotional event for the "Sardines Feeding Show with Santa Claus" at the Coex Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea, on December 11.

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Santa sightings around the world – Costumed participants of the annual "Best Father Frost" contest from different city districts make their way through a courtyard in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on Monday, December 10.

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Santa sightings around the world – A few thousand Santa Clauses ride between Gdansk and Gdynia, Poland, on Sunday, December 9. Santa Clauses rode on scooters, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles between the two Polish cities.

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Santa sightings around the world – Participants in the fourth annual Michendorf Santa Run, one wearing a camera on his head, gather shortly before the run on December 9 in Michendorf, Germany. More than 800 people took part in this year's races.

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Santa sightings around the world – A woman and her dog in Santa suits prepare for the annual Glasgow Santa Dash on December 9 in Glasgow, Scotland.

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Santa sightings around the world – Beachgoers carry a man wearing a Santa Claus costume on the Mediterranean coast on Saturday, December 8, in Nice, France.

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Santa sightings around the world – Takashi Inui of Frankfurt, Germany, celebrates dressed as Santa Claus after the Bundesliga match between Eintracht Frankfurt and SV Werder Bremen on December 8 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Eintracht won 4-1.

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Santa sightings around the world – A customer holds the door of a shopping mall for a man dressed as Santa Claus on December 8, in Berlin.

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Santa sightings around the world – Valery Kokoulin, 47, rings a bell on his yacht to mark the end of the sailboat season on Friday, December 7, on the Yenisei River outside Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Temperatures in the Siberian city dipped to minus 9.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Santa sightings around the world – Kokoulin stands aboard his yacht on December 7.

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Santa sightings around the world – President Barack Obama greets Santa Claus with actors Neil Patrick Harris, Rico Rodriguez and musician Phillip Phillips during the 90th National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the White House on Thursday, December 6, in Washington, D.C.

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Santa sightings around the world – A diver dressed as a Santa Claus dives with a nurse shark in the Sea Life Aquarium in Munich, Germany, on December 6, which is St. Nicholas Day.

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Santa sightings around the world – Around 400 people dressed as Santa Claus arrive by train in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on December 6.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed as a Santa Claus waves at the port in Hamburg, Germany, on December 6.

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Santa sightings around the world – People in Santa Claus outfits imitate South Korean rapper Psy's famous "Gangnam Style" dance outside offices in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, December 5. The dance marked the start of a charity mission to hand out gifts to children.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed as Santa Claus stands at The Paley Center for Media on December 5 in Beverly Hills, California.

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Santa sightings around the world – Santa descends on a rope during Christmas Box Launch at Wellington Arch in London's Hyde Park on Tuesday, December 4.

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Santa sightings around the world – Santa Claus, aka Tim Connaghan, sits in the audience while a Marine stands guard during a presentation at Ronald Reagan National Airport on Monday, December 3, as part of the Marines' Toys for Tots program. Thousand of donated toys are set to be delivered to families affected by Hurricane Sandy.

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Santa sightings around the world – A spectator dressed as Santa Claus and wearing an Australian green cap watches the South African team walk out onto the field at a cricket match against Australia on December 3.

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Santa sightings around the world – Runners dressed in Father Christmas costumes take part in the annual 5-kilometer Santa Dash in Liverpool, England, on Sunday, December 2. Many runners who refuse to run in red, the color of their football rivals Liverpool FC, wear blue to support the football team Everton FC.

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Santa sightings around the world – A fan of the Baylor University Bears dresses up as Santa Claus while the Bears face the Oklahoma State University Cowboys on Saturday, December 1, in Waco, Texas.

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Santa sightings around the world – Competitors run in the annual 6-kilometer Santa Run in Battersea Park, London, on December 1.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed as Santa leaves the the annual meeting of volunteer Santa Clauses and angels on December 1 in Berlin. Studentenwerk Berlin, a student organization at the German capital's technical university, hosts a general meeting for guidelines on participating in this year's events during the festive season.

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Santa sightings around the world – Angels and Santa Clauses gather for the annual meeting on December 1 in Berlin.

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Santa sightings around the world – A man dressed as Santa Claus attends Berlin's meeting of volunteer Santa Clauses and angels on December 1 in Berlin.

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Santa sightings around the world – Men dressed as Santa Claus carry sacks through the meeting of volunteer Santa Clauses and angels on December 1 in Berlin.

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Santa sightings around the world – A volunteer Santa Claus takes a nap during the general meeting outlining guidelines for Father Christmases in Berlin on December 1.

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Santa sightings around the world – Volunteers in New York's 110th annual Sidewalk Santa Parade cross the street on Friday, November 23.

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Santa sightings around the world – A diver wearing a Santa Claus costume feeds a sunfish during a Christmas show at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise Aquarium in Yokohama, Japan, on Wednesday, November 21. The show will be held daily until Christmas Day.

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Santa sightings around the world – Estonian Santa Claus "Santa Aare," from left, Dutch Santa Claus "Santa Holland" and Swedish Santa Claus "Snaretomten" compete in the Kicksled Sack Race during the Santa Claus Winter Games in Gallivare, Sweden, on Saturday, November 17. Santas from around the world gathered to participate in Christmas-themed competitions that weekend.

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Santa sightings around the world – Santas from various countries compete in the porridge-eating contest during the Santa Claus Winter Games in Gallivare on November 17.

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Santa sightings around the world – A Santa Claus representing the indigenous Sami people competes in the reindeer ride event during the Santa Claus Winter Games in Gallivare on November 17.

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Santa sightings around the world – Japanese Santa Claus "Santa Paradise Yamamoto" hits the ground in the reindeer ride event during the competition in Gallivare on November 17. Related photos: Magnum Santas

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Why you should: An invigorating icy swim will wash away last year's cobwebs.Why you shouldn't: It could also wash away frozen parts of your body.

Underwear

After exposing your extremities to such a chilly experience it might be wise to have some thermals to hand, but sensible unmentionables aren't on our list. Instead, like partygoers in Italy and some South American countries you should be thinking about a more dazzling set of drawers. In Italy, Spain and South and Central America, color-coded underpants take on special meaning at New Year with red or yellow auguring luck or romance.

Why you should: It's a chance to liven up your lingerie.Why you shouldn't: With all this talk about pants and love you'll need another icy dip.

If you're fed up with unfunny jokes told by drunken party guests, it's time to tap into Germany's love of deadpan absurdism. Almost every New Year's Eve for the past half a century, German television has broadcast "Dinner for One," a comic English play in which a sozzled butler imitates party guests to humor his elderly employer. The annual repeat of the show's catchphrase: "The same procedure as last year," adds to the hilarity and has helped it earn fans in several neighboring countries.

Why you should: The show's saucy punchline is well worth itWhy you shouldn't: The joke takes about 50 years to work properly

Broken television set

When endless reruns of "Dinner for One" result in frustration being taken out on your TV, you might be tempted to throw it out of the window in line with a now extinct Italian New Year tradition of defenestrating unwanted goods. A similar habit in South Africa has seen fridges and other household objects ejected from up high, sometimes resulting in injury and arrest.

Why you should: You shouldn't.Why you shouldn't: It's illegal, not to mention dangerous.

Grapes

There's nothing too unusual about serving grapes at a party -- unless you follow the traditions of Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica where 12 grapes are consumed on New Year's Eve, each a symbol of the months that lie ahead. In Spain the grapes must be eaten in time with the 12 chimes of midnight, which can turn the traditional New Year's kiss into a messy business.

Why you should: Grapes are a tasty source of anti-oxidants and vitamins.Why you shouldn't: Inhaling grapes = Heimlich Maneuver.

Molten lead

Back to Germany for another unusual ritual in which a spoonful of lead is melted over a candle then dropped into a bucket of water. The shapes formed by the cooling metal are then divined for signs of what lies in the year ahead. Certain formations have specific meanings: An egg signifies a growing family, a clover means luck and a hat shape means good news. No one takes it seriously.

Why you should: It's fun.Why you shouldn't: It's nonsense.

Pigs

In the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, the first day of January is celebrated with a piglet race in which 10 tiny porkers sprint through the snow for the enviable prize of being spared from the sausage factory. The winner is usually adopted as a town mascot for the year.

Why you should: Piglets! So cute!Why you shouldn't: The losers get eaten.

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A look back at 2012's big news

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Chairs at a party aren't exactly a radical innovation, but in Denmark they are typically used as a launching pad for people who believe that by leaping into the New Year they will banish malevolent spirits.

Why you should: You can claim your new year exercise regime has started early.Why you shouldn't: You'll need the icy water again to bathe those twisted ankles.

Dead birds

Sailors love a good party, but are notoriously superstitious souls, believing that it is unlucky to begin a voyage on December 31. Maritime lore also suggests that feathers plucked from a wren slain on New Year's Day can protect seafarers from dying in a shipwreck.

Why you should: You polished off those piglets, so a wren isn't going to hurt your conscience.Why you shouldn't: Nothing kills a party like a dead bird.

Bed

Britain has a certain reputation when it comes to New Year's Eve, particularly in Scotland where Hogmanay celebrations -- climaxing in a rendition of the traditional Scottish song "Auld Lang Syne" -- can border on the bacchanalian. So it is perhaps a surprise to discover that, according to a survey conducted last year, over a third of Britons prefer to be tucked up in bed on the stroke of midnight.

Why you should: You'll avoid the most overrated party of the year.Why you shouldn't: Champagne corks, fireworks and ABBA will keep you awake anyway.